Plenty of opinion on LeBron, including Kobe's

July 13, 2013|Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel Columnist

MIAMI — It started last week at the Orlando Pro Summer League and assuredly will continue this coming week at the Las Vegas summer league, the speculation about LeBron James and his 2014 opt-out and what's next.

Yes, you could bury your head in the sand, rightfully point out that there is still a full season to be played, an opening-night ring ceremony scheduled for AmericanAirlines Arena, and plenty at stake before LeBron establishes the stakes next July.

The easy target are the national outlets, with ESPN already filling its non-Hernandez, non-Puig moments with LeBron conjecture.

But, understand, this is not just the outsiders, not just those searching for ratings points and web hits.

It's also the insiders, as well, including the executives, scouts and coaches at the Amway Center this past week and on the campus of UNLV this coming week.

It's what you sell to your fans when there is nothing at the moment to sell, even though the letdown can be far more severe than the buildup. (Just ask the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls after their failed pursuits of James in July 2010.)

A scout for one of the teams involved in the LeBron chase in 2010 and now working for another Eastern Conference team said it's what teams do, how they buy time, create hope.

"I would agree with that," he said, "that there is always the pie-in-the-sky, the panacea."

So for the Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Lakers or another suitor that jumps into the race and can offer the needed cap space, perhaps there will be a payoff. No one, after all, a year ahead of the fact had the Miami Heat as a frontrunner for LeBron in 2010, let alone frontrunners for LeBron, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

While the NBA just this past week fined the Houston Rockets $150,000 for talking about the free-agency heist of Dwight Howard before the end of the signing moratorium, the league also knows that free-agency buzz is good for the league.

The reality, of course, is that nothing will matter until the Heat's final game of next season, or, more to the point, of next season's playoffs. Will Wade's knees make it to the finish line? Will Bosh be able to stand tall enough in the middle? Will the luxury tax corrode the championship veneer?

Anyone who has those answers this July is far more prescient than anyone in the NBA. Because while those league executives might hope, they certainly don't know.

But make no mistake, we're at the starting line.

And while LeBron and the Heat might not be talking, plenty of NBA types will, probably including some of those previously fined for talking out of turn on free-agency issues.

This past week, it was no less than Kobe Bryant entering discussion.

In an interview with the Lakers Nation website, Bryant was asked why a player like LeBron would want to eventually play alongside Bryant when he is out to win more championships than the Lakers' guard.

"Well, yeah, I'm mean, you know, it's that argument that goes on forever," Bryant said. "You don't want to help someone else kind of increase their ring count, you know. But he's already increased Dwyane's, so I don't think it's that big of a stretch."

Yes, even Kobe is talking about the LeBron Lakers, not thinking of it as that much of a stretch.

In a follow up, Bryant was asked whether LeBron actually might consider such a move.

"I'm not going to speculate," he said. "Who the hell knows?"

Who? These days seemingly everyone has a should-he-stay-or-should-he-go opinion.